Travel With Kids: Fayetteville

Fayetteville is a friendly town – warm and congenial, a small city with a big heart.

We spent 6 nights in this not-so-sleepy military mecca. Our favorite highlights?

We planted a garden for the Salvation Army. Our hands got dirty. Our feet got bit (by ants!). After an afternoon of work in the North Carolina breeze, we ended up with a young garden – zucchini and tomato plants in a row. The vegetables will help feed the homeless later this summer.

We explored the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens. A stunning paradise of 77 acres, the gardens would be the perfect backdrop for a wedding, bloggers reception, or business event. Admission is $8 for adults ($2.50 for kids ages 6-12; FREE for kids 5 and under).

We walked through history at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. Although it is not the best choice for young children, this museum offers a fascinating glimpse at our armed forces – past and present. There are a number of visual displays of soldiers, jeeps, planes, and more. Best of all, the museum is completely free.

We sampled new beers at The Mash House Brewery and Chophouse. By “we,” I mean: “Tim.” Tim enjoys locally brewed beers – particularly porters and stouts. I’m not a beer drinker, but I did enjoy my club sandwich. The girls were delighted by the [$5] kids menu that included a huge portion of macaroni & cheese, a drink, and an ice cream sundae.

Have you every been to Fayetteville? What did you like/not like about it?

What restaurant in your area has the best children’s menu (and how much is it)?

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Comments

Looks like fun! Can I ask you a personal question? I know Tim was a pastor….what’s your take on Pastor’s who are against any form of drinking. Our Pastor is, and although neither of us drink beer, we do love our wines and some alcoholic beverages every now and then. Maybe a post on that? :P

Great question, Blessing! I should have Tim answer it in a guest post.

The short answer, however, is that we both drink in moderation and enjoy it…while also acknowledging that alcohol also has the potential to be very damaging if consumed in excess. The Bible is clear in condemning drunkenness, but does not denounce alcohol itself. Remember Jesus’ first miracle? He turned water into wine. :)

We’ve been to Fayetteville a handful of times and always find the traffic there very frustrating. It’s super congested there, especially on the weekends. I heard on the radio that they’re expecting a baby boomlet there this summer because a lot of the soldiers returned home 9 months ago. LOL! So I don’t suspect the traffic problems will ease up any.

My sister lived on base in Fayettville for a few years so I have been a few times but stayed on base most of the time. HUMID! But it was lovely to be able to pack the kids in the van and drive to the beach :)
I’m not a fan of most kid’s menus, I feel like the quality is always GREATLY lacking, as if they are saying “just give that to the kids, they don’t know any better”. I can usually order a larger meal off the main menu and share mine and we have enough for all the kids. Plus, it’s usually cheaper that way.

This cross-country trek is definitely making me appreciate the dry beauty of the Sonoran Desert.

We sometimes go with the kid’s menu. Other times, we opt to have the girls share our meals. It just depends. All that being said, we don’t eat out very often. We prefer to eat at home most of the time – it’s healthier, yummier, and much cheaper!

My husband is also a BIG craft beer lover. We have a local craft beer shop just a few blocks from our house. You can mix and match a 6-pk of local and craft brews. I think that’s all I’m going to get Brian for Father’s Day and he will love it! We have a lot of great local brews around the Twin Cities so if you do end up venturing our way I’ll have Brian set Tim up with some great brews and maybe even a tour. (PS…I’m going to email Tim directly about a local brew that gives 100% of it’s profits to charity — tell him to look for the email!)

My sister and family live in Fayetteville (though she is here in MN right now and her husband is deployed) and we had fun visiting them for Thanksgiving of ’09. We also really found the Airborne Museum fascinating. Another thing that I found very memorable was went we went to an old section of town for a “Dicken’s Christmas” celebration and in the middle of the road (I am not quite sure where in Fayettville this was) there was this building of sorts. It was open on the bottom with just pillars and then there was a large room up above. Anyway we read on a placard that it was the place where slaves used to be auctioned off. I had never seen a place like that before (we are from the north) and just thinking about it rather turned my stomach. It ended up being a pretty emotional place for me.

We had a lovely time walking and exploring while we were there. I loved all the different sorts of plants that they had. I saw holly and mistletoe for the first time.

See the World, One City at a Time.

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